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Start your own Primer microschool
We have a simple thesis on how to fix our K-12 education system: empower 1,000's of educators to launch microschools in their communities.
If you’ve ever dreamed of starting a school to serve your community, we’re here to make that a reality.
What is the Primer Leader Cohort Program?
The Primer Leader Cohort is a year-long program designed to help you launch your own Primer microschool. You’ll join other educators around the country working to bring a world-class education to their community.
Think of the Cohort like an evening MBA — you’ll be expected to attend weekly live (virtual) programming, join us for the occasional in-person event, and work towards key milestones related to launching your Primer.
It all culminates in June of 2025 when you’ll transition to a full-time leader of your Primer and prepare for your inaugural students to join in August 2025 for the ‘25-’26 school year.
Why join and launch a microschool with us?
From the earliest whiteboard sessions to welcoming your inaugural students to your microschool in 2025, we’ll have your back every step of the way.
Primer will take on all the risk and responsibility of your microschool’s lease and campus operations. You’ll incur zero costs to open up your Primer.
During the cohort, you’ll receive a monthly stipend to compensate you for your time. In June of 2025, you’ll transition to a full-time leader of your Primer with a competitive full-time salary and benefits.
You’ll get economic upside both in your Primer as well as the broader Primer network. If you love the hustle, there are additional earning opportunities available to you (think: summer programming, after-school programs, and more).
No need to worry about the zoning, health, fire and DOE requirements for your microschool. We’ve got you covered. (And trust us, this is really hard!)
All of our existing microschools run on our proprietary product, PrimerOS. It offers everything you need to deliver a world-class student and parent experience and automates (almost) all the administrative busywork many teachers are used to.
We’ve spent years perfecting the playbook for launching microschools. Now, the playbook can be yours. We’ll teach you everything you need to know about launching — and growing —
your Primer.
Think you have what it takes to launch your own Primer Microschool? Here’s what you’ll be doing throughout the cohort program:
During the beginning of the cohort, your primary focus will be finding a suitable location in your community for your Primer, with at least three classrooms, open space, private bathrooms, and dedicated parking.
You’ll recruit and enroll the first 15 students for your microschool with the support of our marketing campaigns and resources.
You’ll be given and learn everything you need to launch your own Primer microschool, including our curriculum, our proprietary software, marketing materials, and more.
You’ll be expected to dedicate 5-10 hours per week to launching your own Primer. This will look like: 1 hour per week of live programming, 1-3 hours of weekly assignments, and the occasional in-person event.
Within 5 days, you’ll hear back on whether you’ve been selected as a finalist. If you’re selected as a finalist, you’ll be invited to a 30-minute call with our Founder and put together a preliminary plan for sourcing your campus location and recruiting your first students.
Application Deadline
Candidate Acceptance Decisions
Cohort Kickoff
Cohort Completion
Your microschool launches!
No problem! From September 2024 until June 2025, our program is set up to work like an evening MBA, allowing you to balance a full-time job. Once your microschool launches in fall 2025, you’ll transition into a full-time Primer leader.
Most of your work during the cohort will be in your community, like talking to potential campus locations and recruiting students. The regular cohort programming each week will happen on Zoom, but you can also expect occasional in-person events with other Primer Leaders and team members.
As a part of the Cohort, you’ll receive a monthly stipend of $1,000. After the cohort concludes and your microschool is ready to launch, you’ll earn a competitive full-time salary (between $60k/yr and $75k/yr depending on your geography) with great benefits, economics upside, and additional earning opportunities.
You should have previous experience working with kids, but you do not need to be an active teacher.
These are the two main asks we make of you as a prospective Primer Leader, so they are required in order to successfully launch your Primer. That said, don’t stress — we’ll be working together every step of the way, from sourcing potential locations to helping with marketing efforts to recruit students.
Of course! We’ll be running ads on Facebook, Instagram, Google (and other online channels) and supplementing with marketing efforts like direct mail and radio ads, depending on your geography.
Yes - your Primer will be co-located with two other leaders launching their own Primers in different grade bands, making it easy for families to drop off multiple students in different grade levels at the same location.
